Is President Obama Depressed?

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," September 13, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Welcome back to "The Five." Since we announced that Bob was on Twitter @RobertGBeckel and he now has 632 followers.

BOB BECKEL, Co-HOST: That's fine, that's enough.

GUTFELD: You don't want any more?

All right, let's move to my monologue. According to the left-wing gossip blog Gawker, The New York Times is putting together a piece that suggests President Obama may have depression. The Times won't comment and it is Gawker, which is about as reliable as a phony Rolex, still, they claim that Obama no longer finds pleasure in his job, meaning if you think you have a rough time being unemployed, imagine how he must feel since he caused it. I kid. He didn't really cause all of it.

But the media will love the story. In the past the president's flaws are scrutinized in tough times. Has President Reagan lost a step? Has President Bush given up? But in this case it's depression and it's probably your fault or our fault. Yep, we caused it because we just don't appreciate him. He's too good for us. And like all sensitive intellectuals our callousness wounds him. We're the jerks and he is James Dean.

But I disagree. If this story is real, I'm not sure it is, Obama has changed, it's not because of us. Shielded by so long by an adoring media our president did not build up an immune system that protects against hard knocks. Now they're knocking at once and Obama doesn't have any padding. And while that may not lead to depression it will lead to dumb gossip stories like this.

Bob, you're looking -- you don't buy this story, but you've got to admit he probably has changed.

BECKEL: First of all, I didn't know Gawker was left wing because they dumped on me a number of times. But I guess everybody does, what difference does it make?

I don't know how, I mean, first of all, if depression is the result of being dumped on, then, Obama ought to be in insane asylum with what you do to every day and everybody else.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Everybody else, come on.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: One thing being White House press secretary, I can tell you is that the press loves nothing more than to put a president on the couch and to analyze him. It's like, you know, they had a minor in psychology and have to use it somehow.

It is, it's a tough job and it's tough for a reason. The thing is that the press will constantly do this type of thing so they can build him up later on. Amazing comeback, look at this, this is so great. And I can tell you, September 2012 it will all happen.

GUTFELD: They wouldn't do that with President Bush. When they would analyze him, it wasn't to build him back up.

PERINO: In fact, Barbara Walters he told me in the 2000 campaign, she said, now, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? He said. But I'm not a tree, I'm a Bush. Ha, ha.

BECKEL: That's very good.

GUTFELD: Do you think he's depressed?

BECKEL: Absolutely not.

GUTFELD: America, is it your fault?

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: And it's not my fault. He's not even depressed. Here is a guy that goes to Brazil, Martha's Vineyard, takes the plane to Florida, back to Brazil, Martha's Vineyard. Michelle goes to Spain with her family. That's depressing?

BECKEL: Why don't we jump on the kids now too?

TANTAROS: You open the headlines, zero job numbers, that makes me depressed. The New York Times reports they find the country is more depressed with him as president. Who cares how he feels, what about us?

BECKEL: What about you? I mean, look, Obama's doing everything he can under very difficult circumstances. And by the way, psychiatry and psychology, I went through 15 psychiatrists in my life and I got fired, but it's hard to get fired by a psychiatrist because they always want you to show up and pay your money. Three wouldn't see me after a while. It's a waste of time and --

PERINO: Do you get it for free? They didn't want to see you because you wouldn't pay your bills?

BECKEL: No. I was driving them crazy.

GUTFELD: You went to five shrinks who went to five shrinks.

PERINO: And that's how you create jobs in America.

BECKEL: Let me say one thing about that, Dana, let's remember what Dana said here, I think she's exactly right and I've been saying this also, about expectations. Obama's expectations are so low right now, his press is so bad, the commentary particularly here is unbelievably nasty. By this time next year, it will be picked up.

GUTFELD: And nothing compared to what Bush or Reagan went through.

TANTAROS: And he did it to himself. During the 2008 campaign he's the one that got us all, remember the stories -- we're high on Obama and --

BOLLING: And not only that.

TANTAROS: He set the bar too high.

BOLLING: And give me a break, when do we find out today, 15.1 percent of the nation is now living below the poverty line, in addition for the third year in a row that we've spent we're in the hole in excess of $1 trillion.

BECKEL: Did you read that figure at your beach house?

BOLLING: No, the Census Bureau put it out today. And 20 percent of children are in poverty. That's depressing.

PERINO: To have that number, a troubling number we should probably spend more time on, the expectations thing with President Obama. The thing that's amazing they constantly lower expectations, and I understand that. The problem is because they don't, like do they echo chamber thing just for the latest jobs plan, then they actually meet the low expectations they set.

BECKEL: Have you thought that one of the reasons the expectations are so low is because the Republicans are blocking everything he's trying to do.

PERINO: No.

BECKEL: Including getting people off of welfare? The Republicans is said, no, no, no, no. It's a do-nothing Congress.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: What did he want he didn't get? He got a stimulus Bill. He got health care, he got --

BECKEL: The stimulus should have been another trillion dollars of stimulus.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Cap and trade is going to create jobs.

BOLLING: I'm a numbers guy and everything, everything in the last three years have been negative Obama numbers. No one's lowering expectations. We're just reading the numbers, and they're getting uglier and --

BECKEL: Let me ask you something, if John McCain were president, the numbers would be different?

BOLLING: I do.

BECKEL: Oh, you do.

TANTAROS: Do you think it's a winning strategy to say if it's not for the Republicans? But he's in charge, he is at the top of the --

BECKEL: He's got a very good record, including health care that you guys make fun of and 40 million people have a chance in --

TANTAROS: Why aren't you running it?

BECKEL: I'm running on it, but I'm not running for anything. I couldn't get nominated for dog catcher.

GUTFELD: By the end of the segment probably 800 followers.

BECKEL: Probably saying you dumb --

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: It was a sort of a beep because I was going to say something else, but I didn't. And it's a tease. This means, Bob, shut up. Go ahead, Greg, tease.

GUTFELD: Oh, Bob.

We have to change the name of the show to "Oh, Bob."

BECKEL: No.

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